


abandonment

by rmaowl



Series: january [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abandonment, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Anxiety, Child Abandonment, Crying, Crying Keith (Voltron), Fear, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) Has Abandonment Issues, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Keith (Voltron)'s Shack, M/M, Men Crying, Non-Consensual Touching, Orphan Keith (Voltron), Orphans, Panic, Phone Calls & Telephones, Protective Shiro (Voltron), Scars, Tears, Touching, Trust, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-03 10:04:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17282024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rmaowl/pseuds/rmaowl
Summary: Keith knows he must be very exhausting to love, with how often people leave.





	abandonment

There's a woman lingering outside Keith's shack. He knows this because he's been peering through the dirty makeshift curtains every few minutes. 

It could be paranoia, but Keith gets a bad vibe from her. Why is she in the middle of nowhere, suffering through painfully hot temperatures for no apparent reason? Why does she know the location of his shack?

Theoretically, she could be lost and searching for shelter, but something about her seems purposeful and distinct, like she knows what she's doing.

He doesn't want to call Shiro, because it could be completely unnecessary. This woman's intentions could be innocuous. After all, Keith is the one who insisted on living on his own in his Dad's dirty old shack in an attempt to form a sense of independence, a sense of self, something wholly separate from his trauma and the people he's known (or hasn't known) all his life.

He can't always trust Shiro to be there, and sometimes he thinks he can't trust anyone at all. Sometimes, he thinks he has to be able to survive on his own, because people leave. It could be a gradual process, fading into the background, variating how often they talk to him until he's being ignored entirely. It could be that they're there one second and gone the next, whether it was voluntary or not.

Sometimes there isn't a choice, but sometimes there is.

Keith knows he must be very exhausting to love, with how often people leave.

Shiro hasn't, not yet.

That's different. That's out of the ordinary.

There's a pair of glowing dice settled in his palm. He tosses and catches them with ease. They clatter together. They're a mix of ugly gray and dull purple.

They were supposedly given to him by his mother, wherever the hell she went.

A knock sounds at the door. Anxiety strikes in Keith's chest like lightning, a repeated warning sign. He bites his lip.

It must be the woman.

As he heads towards the door, the floorboards creak. He wonders if she can hear it through the thin, crumbling walls. She probably can.

Why is she here?

He swings open the door.

Her gaze is searching.

She waits only a second before she speaks.

"You have his eyes," she murmurs, and suddenly her hand is on his cheek. The touch is scalding, acidic. Her thumb brushes over his curving burn scar. All of this is wrong.

"Stop," he chokes out, "stop." He scrambles backwards, away from her touch. "Who are you? What're you—"

"I'm your mother," she cuts in simply, like she isn't dropping a bomb on him.

She looks a bit guilty.

That's great. That's fantastic. The woman that left him when he was a clueless infant is a bit guilty for doing so. She's caused him boatloads more teen angst than Shiro ever thought possible, damnit. She wasn't there for him when Dad died. She obviously wasn't there when he got thrown into foster care.

Why is she here now?

Keith's always been envious of kids with loving parents, or with any parents at all, but he's never wanted it like this. He feels idiotic, he feels like a clown, he feels stupid and unlovable. He's had so many tricks played on him before, why should this be any different?

The gray and purple dice threaten to burn a hole in his hand.

Does she even know that Dad is dead?

He slams the door in her face and locks it, which he feels is warranted. It's only now that he realizes his legs are shaking. His ears ring and his head buzzes. He can't feel his fingertips anymore. He slides his phone out of his back pocket and dials Shiro's number. He’s starting to feel a little empty, a little floaty. It's strange.

"Keith? What's up?" Shiro asks as soon as he answers the phone.

The resounding silence he gets from the other end of the line is probably worrying, but Keith doesn't think about that. His mind is overloaded, trying and failing to process the events that just occurred.

"Keith?" Shiro repeats, panic seeping into his voice. "You okay, bud? Is there a reason you called?"

"My mom," he says disjointedly, feeling terribly distant. "It's... about my mom, I think?"

"You... think?" Shiro pauses. He's not focusing on any of the right parts, which frustrates Keith a little, but he doesn't know how to communicate that. "Sweetheart, you okay?"

"There's a woman here," Keith says, absentminded. He fidgets with the dice. They clink together. They roll around in his hand. One falls to the floor.

"Keith," Shiro says, and his tone is desperate. Keith wonders why. "What's happening over there?" He hears jangling keys. He hears Shiro unlocking a door, frantic. He hears Shiro's bike starting up, rumbling like a lion. Huh. "Keith?"

"She says she's my mom," he says simply, like he isn't dropping a bomb on Shiro. Idly, he realizes that his hands are shaking. He's nearly dropped his phone twice. Weird.

He doesn't register the plethora of questions pouring out of the phone's speakers. He doesn't register much of anything, after that. He's said what he needed to say.

Suddenly, Shiro’s there, holding his hands, comforting him. How long have Keith’s thoughts been drifting? How long has he been drifting?

“She’s gone,” Shiro whispers, “she’s gone, okay? We’ll deal with her later, see if she’s legitimate—”

Keith breaks down and begins to cry.

No matter how many times he insists on struggling alone, no matter how exhausting it must be to love him, Shiro’s always there.

Maybe he can trust that.

**Author's Note:**

> three noun prompt: envy, clown, dice  
> dialogue prompt: “you have his eyes.”


End file.
